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Hungary has one of the highest rates of smoking-related deaths in the European Union, Swedish associate professor and tobacco and nicotine researcher Karl-Olov Fagerström said in Stockholm. In response to a question from Index, he noted that Hungarians could also learn from the Swedish example, as they have long since switched from smoking to non-cancer-causing sources of nicotine such as snus and nicotine pouches.
Cigarette smoke carries nicotine to the lungs in one second, to the heart in two to three seconds and to the brain ten seconds later. The faster the effect, the stronger the addiction, Swedish university lecturer Karl-Olov Fagerström underlined while explaining why people get hooked on smoking. In contrast, some alternatives take up to an hour for the nicotine to reach the brain. However, it also requires giving up a familiar ritual.
Hungary has one of the highest rates of smoking-related deaths,
highlighted the expert, who has previously been honored by the WHO for his work against smoking. In Hungary, 27 percent of the population smoke. It is a worrying statistic that half of smokers die from the negative effects of smoking, he added. In contrast, in Sweden, only 5.6 percent of the population use combustible tobacco products and Sweden has the lowest number of cancer-related deaths in the European Union.
The professor pointed out that in Sweden being a smoker is rather shameful. For example, ashtrays are no longer even put out on restaurant tables. However, this does not mean that Swedes have given up nicotine completely. The nicotine consumption rate in Sweden is 23.6 percent, which is about the same as the EU average (24.9 percent).
Nicotine pouches. Photo via Wikipedia
However, while Hungarians smoke cigarettes, the Swedes are used to putting a nicotine pouch on their gums. They have the advantage of not having to go out on the balcony, in front of the restaurant or five meters from the bus stop. The health difference is also huge:
while smoking causes cancer, nicotine pouches are one of the least harmful sources of nicotine,
emphasized the Swedish lecturer.
Hungary is considered by Swedish experts to be particularly progressive, as the government allows the sale of nicotine pouches and heated tobacco products. These can offer an alternative to the much more harmful traditional cigarettes. Proper regulation is also essential for these products, but it is important to distinguish them from traditional cigarettes, the experts point out. In Hungary, a recent amendment to a government decree regulates, among other things, the nicotine content of pouches and requires a child-resistant seal on the packaging of nicotine pouches.
Asked by journalists how effective raising the price of tobacco products is in getting people to quit, expert said it is effective up to a point. However, he also added that prices should not be set too high. “If the price is high, a lot of my money goes on cigarettes instead of spending it on my children and the good life and healthy food. So you cannot keep increasing prices indefinitely,” argued Fagerström. Another expert, Anders Milton, added that high prices also stimulate the black market, with many people turning to uncontrolled, dubious quality but cheaper contraband. Of course, there will also be those who, faced with the horrendous prices, realize that they need to make a change.
In any case, experts would be happy to see higher taxes on traditional cigarettes and less harmful alternatives given priority on shop shelves.
As they point out, “it is not nicotine that kills, it is traditional smoking.”
Via Index; Featured image via Pixabay
